Jordan Bayes, Sous Chef at the Award winning Tuddenham Mill restaurant in Suffolk, has been announced as a regional finalist in the prestigious 2019 Roux Scholarship, the annual competition which aims to find the best young Chef in Britain.

The scholarship, which has been running more than 30 years, is judged by Michel Roux Jnr (BBC Saturday Kitchen, Kitchen Impossible, MasterChef), Brian Turner CBE (BBC's Ready, Steady, Cook) and James Martin (BBC Saturday Kitchen, This Morning and Saturday Morning with James Martin) among many other Michelin-starred chefs.

To earn a place in the regional final, Jordan had to create a recipe using a short saddle of hogget, with garnishes and accompaniments, and a sauce to complement the dish. For the regional final, Jordan will have 2½ hrs to cook his dish, along with a dessert from a mystery box of ingredients given to the chefs on the day. The judges will be looking for recipes and methods, which demonstrate the best balance of creativity, taste, style and practicality in the finished dish.

Jordan, who was educated at Rushden Community College, is excited at the prospect of cooking for the panel of acclaimed chefs, and says “I am immensely proud to be selected as a finalist in the regional final of the prestigious Roux Scholarship. I was very excited when I reviewed the brief, I think the ingredients will complement my style of cooking. I look forward to showcasing my work to some of the best Chefs in the UK and beyond”.

Lee Bye, Chef Patron of Tuddenham Mill, located in Suffolk said; “I am very proud of Jordan, he has worked very hard to get to this position at such a young age. He is a true industry professional and I wish him every success in the competition”.

The regional finalists are from a wide geographic spread across the UK, with Jordan being one of only eight of the 18 finalists from restaurants outside London.

The acclaimed chef, Michel Roux Jr, one of the judges from the London regional final, is looking forward to sampling the food, he says; “The standard goes up every year and we see different ways of cooking, from the classics to the more modern cooking – I can’t wait to taste them. Hogget has a very pronounced, lamby flavour and is a wonderful meat to use.”